Several people have criticized the sound of my piano in my postings. Some have asked if it were a digital or an old upright. It is neither. It is a 3 year old small grand, and it sounds great live. Today I remembered that I have a felt cover over the strings to protect them from dust. So I removed the felt covering for this recording. Did it make any difference?

Hugo Reinhold was a late eighteenth century composer, pianist, and professor of music. He was a student of Anton Bruckner. I have a bit more information on him if you need a short biography. I call this work "Cowboy Imrpromptu" because the slow section reminds me very much of cowboy music with its rocking left hand accomplaniment to the simple, tranquil melody.

According to my records, I played this piece when I was fourteen. It's amazing that I played it then, and now have a terrible time trying to record it. When attempting to record it, there is always a terrible mess usually toward the end of the recaptiulation or in the slow section. How frustrating!

I've practiced very slowly for the past three days on this work. This composition must be played fast to achieve the intended feeling of passion and agitation. So please excuse any slips as I tried to express the righr mood of the piece.

[quote="John Robson"]Several people have criticized the sound of my piano in my postings. Some have asked if it were a digital or an old upright. It is neither. It is a 3 year old small grand, and it sounds great live. Today I remembered that I have a felt cover over the strings to protect them from dust. So I removed the felt covering for this recording. Did it make any difference?

So its a c1 yamaha grand right ? please clarify this as I mentioned in your op70/3 post.

I think your piano sounds good. Is it a Yamaha as JohnMar asked? I have a Yamaha C2, but I can not tell on listening to recordings what kind a piano I am hearing. The recording environment has a lot to do with the sound, I believe. There were some previous recordings of yours that sounded muffled, and it must be because you were experimenting with the positioning of the recorder. But now I am surprised to hear that you have a felt cover over the strings. I wouldn't think the strings would even sound with something on them.

This piece sounds hard. You played it well.
The beginning 4 or 5 measures reminds me of Mozart's Alla Turca (the c- section with all the RH eighth notes) but then it goes right into Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu - Did the composer mean to make so much of a copy?

_________________"Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties." ~ Frederic Chopin

How perceptive of you to notice the resemblance to Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu! It is pretty obvious. It's even in the same keys including the middle section. I jokingly played the fast section and then slipped into the Chopin Fantasie slow theme where Reinhold's slow Db theme begins. It fits right in. Also the first phrase of the slow theme resembles the slow theme of Chopin's A-Flat Impromptu. It also suggests the last theme of the Andante of Brahms' F-minor Piano Sonata. Apparently several of Reinhold's compostitions resemble segments of works by previous composers.

You're right. My piano is a Yamaha C1. The felt dust cover over the strings doesn't touch the strings; it is just above them. Apparently it muffled the sound. Live and learn!

JohnMar, the "cowboy" part is not just the left hand, but the combination of the rocking left hand accompaniment with the simple melody in the right hand. Watch an old American western flick (ECH!) and you may notice a resemblance. I'm probably the only person on earth who thinks it resembles "cowboy" music. I guess sometimes I'm a weirdo. LOL

A nice if rather derivative piece. The Chopin and Brahms quotes are indeed pretty obvious, and ironicically these are the best part of the piece... it seems Reinhold has not so very much original to say. I heard neither the Alla Turca or any cowboy-ish melody. The ending is rather lame I think (not your fault !!!)

You play this with great flair, and good that you lavish so much time on such a piece. There are some small slips here and there but nothing to be embarrassed of. More of a problem is that much of the passagework still sounds a bit uneasy. A matter of time, surely.

Are you planning any more Reinhold ? Surely this can go up the site, but I hesitate in creating a Composer page for just one piece...

Let's try again, John. I just typed a response and clicked "Submit" and AOL logged me off Piano Society. Now I'm using Internet Explorer which doesn't automatically log me off. The only reason I still try to use AOL is because it downloads music much much faster. AOL does that to me almost every time I use it to access Piano Society. As I was saying when I was so rudely interrupted (by AOL)....

Chris, don't be so hard on the ol' proff. He wanted to compose like Chopin and Brahms, but just didn't have it in him. I'm sure he did the best he could. The reason I posted that piece is because I ran across it as I was looking through some very old music. It took me back to my childhood.

Sorry. I can see a cowboy and cowgirl admiring the sunset as they gaze into one another's eyes while the slow section of the "Cowboy Impromptu" plays in the background. Last time I'll mention it.

I've never encountered any other piano music by Reinhol and doubt that I ever will. If you want it up on the site, I'll provide a very short biography. But it's completely up to you.

Does anyone else have the same experience of it being much easier to memorize music you played when you were very young? The music I played before I was 22 years old is much easier for me to memorize now. (Okay, don't tell me you're not 22 yet!)

When you do sight reading you are using mostly on one side of brian. But when you try to memorize, you are using another side of brian i think its LH side. Therefre, more you stimulate the lazy side. The more you gets better. I do expereince the same. The full time concert pianist, can memorise much faster is due to the fact...they have trained longer and talent.
I hope this helps..

Does anyone else have the same experience of it being much easier to memorize music you played when you were very young? The music I played before I was 22 years old is much easier for me to memorize now. (Okay, don't tell me you're not 22 yet!)

Yes. I'm trying to memorize two pieces right now, but not much is sticking in there. Yet, there are pieces I memorized as a kid that I can still pull out. I think the older I'm getting, the more clogged up my brain is.

btw - It's okay to relate music to cowboys, cowgirls, etc...It's fun to hear there are other 'weirdos' around here.

_________________"Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties." ~ Frederic Chopin

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